Lap winding and doffing apparatus



March 8, 1966 HISHASHI KINOSHITA 3,239,155

LAP WINDING AND DQFFING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 12, 1963 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.

P3 P2 |& 22' 22" 2| o 32 2 29 19 28 5 2| 2? LS-3 2e 0 r INVENTOR HI Hnvosm'rA BY ATTORNEY HISHASHI KINOSHITA 3,239,155

LAP WINDING AND DOFFING APPARATUS March 8, 1966 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 12, 1965 Fig. 2A

March 1966 HISHASHI KINOSHITA 3,239,155

LAP WINDING AND DOFFING APPARATUS 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 12, 1963 Fig. 2B

March 1966 HISHASHI KINOSHITA 3,239,155

LAP WINDING AND DOFFING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 12, 1963 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig. 3

March 1966 HISHASHI KINOSHITA 3,239,155

LAP WINDING AND DOFFING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 12; 1965 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 March 8, 1966 HISHASHI KINOSHITA 3,239,155

LAP WINDING AND DOFFING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 12, 1963 s Sheets-Sheet 6 3,239,155 LA]? WDIDING AND DOFFIN G APPARATUS Hishashi Kinoshita, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka-fir, Japan, as-

signor to Kureha Spinning Co., Ltd., and Fuji Iron Works Co., Ltd, flsaka, Japan, corporations of Japan Filed Feb. 12, 1963, Ser. No. 257,963 Claims priority, application Japan, Feb. 16, 1962, 37/6,];74, 37/6,175; May 29, 1962, 37/28,.373, 37/28,374; June 6, 1962, 37/30,472

7 Claims. (Cl. 242-551) This invention relates to an autodofling method and apparatus in a lap machine for preparing laps during the combing step in which upon completion of the windup of a lap, the several doffing operations consisting of the pushing out and taking off of the full lap, the supplying of a new lap spool, the cutting off of the lap and the start of the windup are carried out in a very short time without stoppage of the machine during these operations. More particularly the invention relates to the autodofling of laps in a lap machine which operation is carried out by an integrally conneced series of operations consisting of raising and lowering of racked arms, swinging of a spool conveying device, pushing out of a full lap, clasping of a new spool by the lap disc plates, cutting off of the lap, and taking off of the full lap.

Namely, above the racked arms with rise and fall while clasping the two ends of the lap windup spool that pressably contacts the upper surfaces of two fluted lap rollers of the lap machine and rotates in accompaniment therewith there is provided a spool magazine whose inclined and opened end connects with a spool conveying device with an arm intervening. When the windup of a lap is completed, the spool conveying device being swung with this arm pushes out the full lap, and simultaneously the lap disc plates provided at the upper ends or the racked arms clasp a new spool. Then as the racked arms descend and press the spool to the upper surfaces of the fluted lap rollers a lap cutting off device provided between one of said rollers and a pair of calender rollers cuts off the lap which cut-off end is then wound onto the new spool.

In the lap machine presently being used, the full lap wound up on a spool between a pair of juxtaposed lap rollers is taken off and a new spool is inserted in its stead after the machine is stopped once, the full lap being taken off manually, after which a new spool while being held manually is inserted between the lap disc plates to be clasped therebetween. Then after having lowered the racked arms to press the spool onto the upper surfaces of the lap rollers, the lap is cut manually and the cut end is wound on to the surface of the spool by hand. After having thus completed the preparation for carrying out the next winding up operation, the machine is again put into operation. However, recently studies have been made to automatically take off, i.e., doif, the full lap from a lap machine. Even in this case too, the method employed is that in which the lap machine is stopped once and the full lap is automatically taken off, after which a new spool is inserted in its stead and the lap machine is again operated. However, in this case, only the steps of taking off of the full lap and inserting of a new spool in its stead which had been performed by hand hitherto, as described hereinbefore, is automat-ized. Hence, in this case also, as with the case of the fully manual method, the loss in time resulting from the stoppage of the machine for taking off the full lap and inserting a new spool cannot be avoided, and thus no improvement in efliciency from the standpoint of machine operation can be had. Accordingly, the taking off of a full lap and the replacement thereof with a new spool becomes a subject of investigation. However, in this case, unless the timing of the aforesaid taking off and inserting of the spools is right, either piling up nited States Patent C f Patented Mar. 8, 1966 of the lap occurs, or the cut-off ends become easily wrinkled or turned so as to adversely affect the subsequent processing steps.

In the present invention all of these shortcomings have been overcome, and as described hereinbefore, the taking off of the full lap, supplying of a new spool and cutting olf of the lap are automatically carried out efficiently while maintaining coordination between each of the foregoing operations.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method as well as an apparatus in a lap machine comprising an automatic spool supplying means in line with a spool magazine. Another object of the invention is to provide a method as well as an apparatus for automatically clasping the spools of the aforesaid lap machine. A still another object of this invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for automatically cutting off the lap in the foregoing lap machine as well as for automatically winding the lap onto the newly supplied spool. A further object is to provide a method as well as an apparatus for automatically taking oh? the full lap from the foregoing lap machine.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method as well as an apparatus for automatically carrying out the several operations consisting of the foregoing automatic spool supplying means, the automatic spool clasping means, the automatic lap cutting off means and the automatic means of winding the lap onto the new spool and the automatic full lap taking off means while maintaining coordination between the foregoing operations without the need for stopping the operation of even a part of the machine.

As is apparent from the foregoing and other objects, this invention has as its gist the union of the several parts as disclosed in the specification and comprehended by the accompanying claims.

The features of this invention will be understood by having reference to an embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings; in which:

FIG. 1 is an overall side elevation of an apparatus as employed in the method of the invention; FIG. 2A is a descriptive drawing of the operation of the essential parts of FIG. 1, illustrating the instance when the full lap is taken off and simultaneously a new spool is about to be supplied to the upper end of the racked arms; FIG. 2B shows another embodiment shown in FIG. 2A; FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2A in that it is a descriptive drawing of the operation of the essential parts of FIG. 1, ex cept that it illustrates the state wherein the racked arms are descending after having been supplied a new spool; FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the swing plate and hinged portion of the spool conveying device; FIG. 5 is a side elevation in section of the spool clasping means at the top of the racked arms taken along line V-V of FIG. 3; FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the essential parts of the lap cutting-off means; FIG. 7 is a descriptive drawing of the operation of the essential parts of FIG. 6, illustrating the state in which the lap has been cut-off; FIG. 8A illustrates the electric circuit for carrying out the automatic coordination of the interrelated elements of this invention; and FIG. 88 illustrates another embodiment of the circuit shown in FIG. 8A.

In one example of an embodiment, when described with reference to the drawings, 1, 1' of FIG. 1 are fluted lap rollers, and 2 are the racked arms for the lap having at its lower end a rack 3 in engageemnt with a pinion 4, and to which the movement of a piston is transmitted to racked arms 2 for the lap by means of hydrodynamic and fluid pressure (hereinafter to be referred to as fluid pressure) with a rack 7, which is a piston rod 6 in cylinder 5 having teeth cut thereon and a pinion 8 intervening. To

the rear of the fluted lap roller 1' (the direction in which the lap is taken off) there is pivotally mounted at the tip 11 of a lever an auxiliary roller so as to be freely rotatable. The fluted rollers 1, 1' and the auxiliary roller 9 are driven by means of a suitable transmission means at the same peripheral speed in the direction indicated by arrow s. The base of lever 10 is fitted to a shaft 12 carried in bearings (not shown) provided in the two sides of the frame, while that part in about the middle of lever 10 is coupled with a pin 15 to a fluid pressure-actuated piston rod 14 of cylinder 13. Thus, the auxiliary roller 9 is made to turn with shaft 12 as its axis by means of the action of cylinder 13. Between the auxiliary roller and the fluted lap roller 1, rotatably mounted to a shaft at the tip of lever 17, which constitutes a bent and extended portion of lever 10, is a taking-off roller 16 having the same width as the auxiliary roller but of a smaller diameter than said auxiliary roller, which by means of the action of the aforesaid cylinder 13 turns together with said auxiliary roller within a given arcuate range with shaft 12 as the axis.

Mounted above the fluted lap rollers 1, 1' are a spool magazine 18, a spool shooting guide 19 and a spool conveying device 20. At the inclined outlet 21 of the spool magazine 18 there is pivotally mounted at 21 a stopper 22 together with a lever 32 while that part forward of this becomes the upright portion 19 of the spool shooting guide 19. At a bottom outlet 23 of the spool shooting guide 19 there is also pivotally mounted at 30' a stopper 24. The base of the spool conveying device is oscillatably journalled in bearings 25 by means of shaft 26 together with a lever 27. This oscillatory movement of the spool conveying device 20 is coupled to stopper 24 with a link mechanism 27, 28, 29 intervening and further to stopper 22 with a link mechanism 30, 31, 32 intervening. A lever 33, which is that part of lever 27 bent and extending beyond shaft 26, at its tip is connected to one end of a bell crank 34 with a pin 35, the other end of the bell crank 34 is connected with a pin 38 to a piston rod 37 of cylinder 36 actuated by fluid pressure, and the base of the bell crank 34 is supported in bearings 39. Thus, the spool conveying device 20 is rotated by means of the action of cylinder 36. The action of cylinder 36 is further coupled to stoppers 22 and 24 by means of the above-described two sets of link mechanisms.

In FIG. 2B is shown a modification of this spool supplying means. According to this method, as shown in the figure, by means of the rise and fall of a piston rod 91 of cylinder 90 which is actuated by fluid pressure the stopper 22 opens and closes through the link mechanism 30, 31, 32 whose lever turns around axis 30' as the center to hereby supply a new spool to the spool conveying device 20 immediately prior to its swing (hereinafter to be referred to as the immediately-prior-to swing supplying method).

Spool conveying device 20 is of arcuate shape, and as shown in FIG. 4, its tip is bent to constitute a spool stop 20, and to the tip thereof in which is provided a pin 41 is fitted a bent plate wit-h a helical spring 42 coiled around said pin permitting the opening and closing of said bent plate 40 with an arc, thus making it possible to hold spool P between spool conveying device 20 and bent plate 40. As shown in FIG. 5, the top ends of racked arms 2, 2' for the lap are provided with shafts 43, 43' slidable at right angles to said arms, and to these shafts 43, 43 are mounted rotatably lap disc plates 45, having bosses 44, 44 facing each other. The bosses 44, 44 are tapered and hence adapted to coincide axially with the inner rims at the entrance of tubular-shaped spools which are also correspondingly tapered. Thus, when the shafts 43, 43' are moved inwardly toward each other, the spool becomes clasped between the lap disc plates 45, 45'. Provided at the ends of the shafts 43, 43' opposite from the aforesaid bosses of lap disc plates 45, 45 are pistons 46, 47 in cylinders 48, 49, respectively.

The diameter of piston 46 and the inside diameter of cylinder 48 are made slightly greater than the corresponding diameter of piston 47 and inside diameter of cylinder 49. Further, the inside diameter of cylinder 43 nearest the arm 2 is made slightly smaller by forming a step 50, this slightly smaller diameter coinciding with that of the smaller cylinder 49. Projectingly provided at the middle of the outer ends 51, 52 of each of the cylinders are sidepieces 53, 54 which are provided with ball bearing-fitted rollers 55, 55 adapted to rollingly move along the insides of guide rails 56, 56' provided projecting outwardly from the frame.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 6, forward of fluted lap roller 1 (the direction from which the lap is supplied) and there-above a shell roller 57 is disposed in pressing contact with said fluted lap roller to rotate in concomitance therewith. A lap guide plate 58 is provided, which inclines forwardly from the underside of said shell roller, and above said plate a nipper plate 60 is pivoted at its base, together with a lever 66, to a transverse shaft 59, the lower end 61 of the nipper plate being so disposed that it can be brought into abuttable contact with, or retracted from, the full extent of the width of the upper surface of plate 58. Furthermore, an attachment plate 62 of a great coeflicient of friction such as a rubber plate is adhered to its lower surface 62 which comes in contact with plate 58. On the other hand, to a shaft 63 disposed below plate 58 and in parallel with the foregoing shaft 59 are arms 64 whose tips are curved and pivotally mounted at their bases, together with a lever 67. A nipper roller 65 is rotatably fitted to said arms 64 at its ends and so adapted that said nipper roller 65 can be brought into contact with, or retracted from, the forward face of the aforesaid shell roller 57, said nipper roller 65 being made to rotate in concomitance with said shell roller 57 by means of friction when in contact therewith. As the aforesaid levers 66, 67 are coupled with a connecting rod 68, nipper plate 60 and arms 64 are so adapted to move in cooperation with each other. Moreover, the nipper plate 60 and lever 66, and the arm 64 and lever 67 are so adapted to turn as integrated components with shafts 59 and 63, respectively, as axes.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a lever 69 is pivotally mounted on shaft 59 rigidly with respect to the lever 66 and nipper plate 60, the tip of said lever 69 being engaged with a piston rod 71 of cylinder 70 actuated suitably with air pressure to thereby transmit the action of cylinder 70 to the aforesaid nipper plate and also to arms 64 via the above-described link mechanism. Lap L is delivered from the upper and lower calender rollers 7, 73 superposedly disposed to the front and supplied to the top of plate, from where it travels over nipper roller 65 and shell roller 57 to then be wound upon spool P between the lap rollers 1 and 1.

FIG. 8A illustrates the electric circuits for operating the hereinbefore-described machine. In the figure, Ls-1Ls4 are limit switches which operate momentarily; Ms, the microswitch; R R the auxiliary relays, the contact points R R' closing when the relays are in operation while R" acting contrary to R',, closes when R is not in operation. T is the time delay relay whose contact point T remains closed when T is not operating. MV MV are the magnetic valves which correspond respectively with those shown in FIG. 1. X is the alarm signal; S S the hand-operated switches; and Pb, the push button.

The functioning of the combination, constructed as hereinbefore described, when described in detail with respect to the relationship between the electric and fluid pressure elements, is as follows: When the spool P is winding up the lap L, the fluid pressure is made to act in the direction indicated by the upwardly pointing arrow of the magnetic valves. In other words, since in cylinder 5 the pressure is acting on chamber A, the racked arms are pushed downwardly, with rack 7, pinions 8, 4, and rack 3 intervening. Hence the spool P is brought into pressing contact frictionally with lap rollers 1, 1 rotating in the direction indicated by arrow s and winds up the lap L. On the other hand, since air pressure is being applied to the A, A parts of cylinders 48, 49, respectively, of the racked arms 2, 2', spool P is clasped tightly by means of the lap disc plates 45, 45. Further, since in cylinder 13 the fluid pressure acts from above, the auxiliary roller 9 and taking-off roller are swung away from fluted lap roller ll, whereas in cylinder 36 the air pressure acts from below thereby maintaining at its raised position the spool conveying device holding spool P to be inserted next, as well as holding spool P to be inserted after P has been wound up, by means of stopper 22 at the end of the spool magazine. On the other hand, as the fluid pressure acts on cylinder 70 from above, the nipper roller 65 contacts the shell roller 57 and rotates so as to facilitate the travel of the lap while the nipper plate 60 is retracted from the guide plate 58. As the chain sprocket 74 fitted on the axle of the bottom calender roller '72 and the chain sprockets 75, 75' respectively fitted on the axles of said fluted rollers 1, 1' are surrounded by chain 76 engaged transmissibly thereamong, the pair of fluted lap rollers are rotated at a constant speed in the direction of an arrow s. Further, chain sprocket '77 fitted on the axle of roller 1 and chain sprocket '79 fitted on a rotatable axle of a gear wheel 80 arranged between said sprocket 77 and auxiliary roller 9 are also transmissible by chain 78 engaged therebetween. Moreover, between a gear wheel 82 fitted on the axle of the auxiliary roller 9 and a gear wheel 80 fitted on the axle of said support 79 is provided transmissibly therebetween with an intermediate gear wheel 81 fitted on the axle 12.

When the lap has been wound up on the spool to the required amount, limit switch Ls-1 which is included in the yardage meter mounted on an axle of fluted lap roller ll (not shown), detects the predetermined size of the lap winding and functions momentarily by means of a detection mechanism (not shown) to operate relay R and close the contact R Since this closes the circuit of the magnetic valve MV'l, the direction of fluid pressure is reversed by means of the magnetic valve MVl. Namely, as the fluid pressure will act on chamber B of cylinder 5, in contrast to what has been described before, the racked arms are raised by means of rack 7, pinion 8, pinion 4 and rack 3. Although fluid pressure also acts at the same time on the B and B parts of cylinders 48 and 49, respectively, inasmuch as the capacities of cylinders 48, 49 are considerably smaller than that of cylinder 5, the fluid pressure acts on cylinders 48, 49 slightly in advance of the ascending movement of the racked arms to slidably move the shafts 43, 43' outwardly, thereby opening the lap disc plates 45, 45' to release their clasp on spool P and free the same above the lap rollers 1, 1. Furthermore, as R' is closed, magnetic valve MV4 also functions whereby the action of the fluid pressure of cylinder 13 is also reversed. Hence, the piston rod 14 is pushed up and the auxiliary roller 9 and taking-off roller 16 are swung around towards the fluted lap roller side and is positioned to receive the full lap L which has been pushed out.

Spool magazine 18 provided above the fluted lap rollers, at its inclined outlet 21, has the tip 22 of stopper 22 positioned along the direction coinciding with the bottom of the spool magazine, if prolonged. This, together with the upright portion 19 of the spool shooting guide 19, stops spool P2. On the other hand, the spool conveying device 20 holds spool P to be fed next by means of its bent portion 20 and bent plate 40. Since the upper surface of the foregoing guide 19 is wetted in advance, the outer periphery of the spools are moistened when passing thereover. When the racked arms 2, 2' rise as the rack pinion 4 rotates clockwise, a cam 83 fixed on the shaft of said piston rotates also clockwise (FIG. 1). Immediately after the racked arms reach a point close to their maximum elevated point, cam 83 will push the limit switch Ls-Z so that the limit switch may detect the ascent of said racked arms, relay R operates to close contact R' thereby closing the circuit which contains the magnetic valve MV As a result, magnetic valve MV operates to reverse the air pressure acting on cylinder 36, and thus since piston rod 37 descends, the spool conveying device 20, with the intervention of bell crank 34 and lever 33, swings in the direction indicated in FIG. 1 by arrow u and while pushing out the full lap L1 from the upper surfaces of lap rollers 1, 1' to the side where the taking-off roller and auxiliary roller are located, conveys the new spool P carried at the tip of the conveying device 20 to a point, as shown in FIG. 2, coinciding with the location of the axis of the lap disc plates 45, 45' when the racked arms 2, 2 reach their maximum elevated points. By this time, the full lap has reached its stopped position, where the winding of the lap being delivered is continued since the auxiliary roller 9 is being driven at the same peripheral speed as that of the fluted lap roilers.

As the base of the spool conveying device 20 is pivotally mounted on shaft 26 together with the base of lever 27, it is adapted to turn together with the link mechanism 27, 28, 29 having axes 26, 30' and the link mechanism 30, 31, 32 having axes 30', 21'. Hence, the stopper 24 and the link-connected stopper 22 are rotated when the spool conveying device 20 makes a swinging movement. When upon rotation the tip of stopper 22 is turned down, spool P is allowed to drop down into the spool shooting guide 19. At the same time, the other end 22' of stopper 22 prevents the next spool P from dropping into the spool shooting guide 19 from magazine 18. Since stopper 24 is rotated so as to be positioned along the direction coinciding with the bottom of the spool shooting guide 19, if prolonged, spool P which has dropped into the spool shooting guide 19 is checked here and prevented from falling further.

When the racked arms 2 reach their maximum elevated point, the spool conveying device 24 is swung to complete its pushing out of the full lap in the direction indicated by arrow 2, and a new spool P is brought in a position coinciding with the axis of the lap disc plates 45, 45', limit switch Ls3- attached to the frame is pressed by the tip of the lever 33, said limit switch is switched to C-No by means of a suitable detection device (not shown). When the limit switch Ls-3 is switched as above, the circuit of the magnetic valve MV opens and simultaneously the time delay relay T is operated. With the reversion of the magnetic valve MV to its former position, the direction of the air pressure of cylinders 48, 49 are reversed and introduced into A and A" portions, re spectively, to thereby move the lap disc plates 45, 45 inwardly towards each other so that the bosses 44, 44 become fitted in the holes at the two ends of the new spool P (P has already been pushed out by this time) conveyed by the spool conveying device 20, thus accomplishing the clasping of the new spool P between the lap disc plates 45, 45'. In this instance, since the inside di ameter D of the A portion of the cylinder 48 is made slightly larger than the inside diameter d of the A portion of cylinder 49, the inward pressure exerted by lap disc plate 45 is greater than that of lap disc plate 45. Further as the inner wall of cylinder 48 is provided with a step 50, the inward movement of lap disc plate 45 is checked at this stepped portion. Therefore, inasmuch as spool P is clasped by an action in which the lap disc plate 45' presses with a force weaker than that of lap disc plate 45, if the lap disc plate 45 is made to stop at a predetermined position, the position of spool P can be at all times is positioned precisely in the center of the frame of the machine.

A change of the magnetic valve MV simultaneously effects a reversion of the direction of the air pressure in cylinder 5 to its former state and the racked arms 2, 2'

descend as the air pressure is applied to chamber A. Since the racked arms 2, 2 clasp the new spool P with the lap disc plates 45, 45, as described above, the bent plate 40 fitted at the tip of the spool conveling device with a spring 42 is pushed open downwardly against the force of the spring as if to release the spool, as shown in FIG. 3, and upon accomplishment of the release of the spool reverts to its former state by means of the spring.

As the pinion 4 having the cam 83 is also provided with another cam 84 on its axle, during the descent of the racked arms, the cam 84 rotates clockwise with the pinion and pushes momentarily to operate the limit switch Ls-4 and the circuit of the magnetic valve MV is closed, the air pressure acting on cylinder 70 being reversed, the piston rod 71 is pushed upwardly thereby rotating levers 69 and 66 so as to become as shown in FIG. 7. Hence nipper plate 60 is rotated and its tip 62 is pressed against the upper surface of plate 58 to thereby stop the flow of lap L. This action is transmitted to arm 64 by way of the link mechanism 66, 68, 67, and the nipper roller 65 is retracted from the shell roller 57. Since the shell roller 57 rotates on the lap roller 1 concomitantly with the latter by means of friction, lap L is cut off between the point where the shell roller makes pressing contact with the fluted lap roller and the point where the nipper plate 60 makes pressing contact with the guide plate 58 by means of the rotative pulling force of the fluted lap rollers. Since the operation of said limit switch Ids-4, as already noted, is momentary, it reverts to its former state simultaneously upon completion of the cutting off of lap L. Hence the magnetic valve MV also reverts to its former state and the manner in which the air pressure acts on cylinder 70 is restored. In consequence, as the piston rod 71 is immediately pressed downwardly, the mechanics of operation is reversed whereby nipper plate 60 retracts from the guide plate 58, and since the nipper roller clasps the cutoff edge L between it and shell roller 57 and rotates in concomitance with shell roller 57 by pressing against it, the tip of the cut-off lap is immediately pulled out and after passing through the point of contact between the fluted lap roller '1 and the shell roller 57 is delivered to the position where it is to be wound on the next spool. The new spool P which is being clasped between the lap disc plates 45, 45' of racked arms 2, 2' descends as by means of the air pressure applied to chamber A of cylinder 5 pressed against the fluted lap rollers, 1, 1' and rotates in concomitance therewith. As the outer surface of this spool has been moistened in advance, the cut-off end L of the lap which has been delivered forth from the hereinabove-described cut-ofl position and has arrived at the position where it is to be wound onto the new spool gets wound thereon.

In the meantime, the cut-off end L of the lap passes over the top of fluted lap roller 1 and becomes wound up on the full lap L that has been pushed out onto the top of the fluted lap roller 1 and auxiliary roller 9.

After the above-described series of operations are completed, since the contact point T of the timer T opens with the elapsing of the set time, the contact R of relay R opens whereby the magnetic switch MV reverts to its former state and the air pressure applied to cylinder 36 is also restored to its former state. As a result, piston rod 37 being pushed upwardly, the spool conveying device is swung back to its original position. By this action, the limit switch Ls-3 is also switched to the former state of CNc connection. Coupled with the reversion of the spool conveying device 20 to its former position, stoppers 24 and 22 are returned to their former position with the intervention of link mechanisms 27, 28, 28 and 30, 31, 3-2.

In consequence, spool 1 which has been hald back by one end 22 of stopper 22 advances to the stopping position of the other end 22 of stopper 22, while spool P whose fall had been prevented by stopper 24, with the opening of the passage of the spool shooting guide 19 by 0 reversion of stopper 24 to its former position, drops down into the spool conveying device 20 which has been restored to its normal position and held by the bent portion 20 at the end of said device and bent plate 40 mounted thereto with a spring so as to be ready for the next following spool conveyance.

Further, since magnetic valve MV reverts to its former state with the opening of contact point R, as described hereinbefore, the direction in which the air pressure is applied to cylinder 13' is reversed. As a result, the piston rod 14 being pushed downwardly, levers 10, 17 turn with shaft 12 as the axis and revert to their former state. Thus, by this action the full lap L whose winding has been continuing on the upper surface of the fluted lap roller 1 and the auxiliary roller is taken off to the outside of the machine.

All the foregoing related actions are carried out automatically in a very short period of time without stoppage of the machine during this period.

Instead of automatic operation, manual operation is also possible. As seen in FIG. 8A, a hand-operated switch S is provided, which causes the operation only of magnetic switch MV independently of the hereinbeforedescribed operations, whereby the raising and lowering of the racked arms 2, 2' and the mounting and dismounting of spool P are carried out. On the other hand, handoperated switch S operates magnetic switch MV only independently of the other actions to swing the spool conveying device and push out the lap. Further, by operating push button switch Pb it is also possible optionally to effect to a spool not wound fully to the prescribed amount completely the same operations as the automatic operations that is carried out when a full lap has been wound.

Spool magazine 18 is provided with a microswitch Ms for closing the circuit and sounding an alarm X when the supply of spools in the magazine becomes empty.

Besides the spool supplying means described, in FIG. 2B is illustrated the immediately-prior-to-swing supplying method. In this method, the time of change of the direction of application of fluid pressure to cylinder 71 is made to take place immediately prior to the series of dofling operations, while the reversion of the direction of fluid pressure application to its former state is made to take place after completion of the series of dofling operation. Thus it is possible to shorten considerably the time in which a spool is held in the spool conveying device 20 awaiting the completion and pushing out, i.e., dofling, of a full lap. In this case, stopper 24 is omitted, the spool being made to drop by means of stopper 22 immediately into the spool conveying device 20 via the spool shooting guide 19. The electric circuits used in this case is that shown in FIG. 8B. It differs from that shown in FIG. 8A in the point that a magnetic valve MV for changing the direction of the application of fluid pressure to cylinder and a time delay relay T are newly provided. Accordingly, the relay corresponding to the time delay relay T of FIG. 8A is shown as T When the operations carried out by this latter method are described, they are as follows: Upon attaining a full lap, limit switch Ls-5 is closed momentarily Whereby relay R and contact R' are closed thereby operating magnetic valve MV As a result, the direction of the fluid pressure applied to cylinder 90 becomes reversed, and piston rod 82 being thus moved, stopper 22 is rotated by way of a link mechanism 30, 31, 32 to thereby cause a new spool P to drop down. Since the time delay relay T is present to allow sufficient time for the new spool P to leave the point at stopper 22 and drop down by way of the spool guide 19 to become carried in the spool conveying device 20, after the set time of time delay relay T ends after the new spool P has been embraced by the spool conveying device 20, the series of operations consisting of pushing out and taking off of the full lap, i.e., dofling motions, as described with reference to FIGS. 2A and 8A, begin. After the lap has been pushed out and set time of the time delay relay T ends, contact R' of the auxiliary relay R opens whereby the magnetic valves MV MV as well as MV are restored their former state. Thus, with the restoration of piston rod 81 to its original position, stopper 22 reverts to its original position whereby it is in position to supply the next spool to be supplied, i.e., spool P In the case of the operation shown in FIG. 2A, although the new spool is wet once in passing through the spool shooting guide 19, the moistened surface of the spool dries out during the time it waits in the spool conveying device so that its afiinity with the lap in ini tiating the windup is unsatisfactory at times. However, in the case of the immediately-prior-to-swing supplying method, since the spool drops from the magazine immediately prior to the time it is to be carreid by the spool conveying device and its surface is thoroughly wetted and then is clasped between the lap disc plates before it has a chance to dry, its afiinity for the lap when initiating the lap windup is good.

Whereas in all of the conventional machines the dofling operation was carried out after once having stopped the operation of the machine and thus the time required for dofling was from 20 to 30 seconds, in the present invention it is possible t perform, without stopping the machine, the operations of taking off of the full lap, supplying new spool one by one, cutting off of the lap, and winding on of the cut-off end of the lap to the new spool all automatically. Thus, in view of the fact that the efficiency of the machine is enhanced, the labor of the operators required for dofling is eliminated, the number of machines handled by each worker can be increased so as to reduce production cost, and in addition strict control of length uniformity is possible whereby products of excellent and uniform quality can be obtained, this invention is indeed an industrially valuable invention.

What is claimed is:

It. An autodoifing apparatus of a lap-forming machine comprising, in combination, a pair of fluted lap rollers adapted to be wound with a lap on a spool thereon, a pair of calender rollers, a pair of racked arms disposed vertically and axially on both sides of said fluted lap rollers, lap disc plates positioned on the upper ends of each of said racked arms and facing each other for clasping said spool therebetween and being adapted to ascend in response to the thickness of the lap wound on said spool and to push downwards the spool for frictional contact with said lap rollers, said arms also being adapted to ascend to an elevated point after forming a full lap and to release said spool so as to be exchanged with a new spool at said point, means for clasping the lap between said lap disc plates, means connected to the said racked arms for maintaining a frictional contact between said spool and said fluted lap rollers and for ascending the racked arms to the elevated point, and an automatic spool supply apparatus disposed above said racked arms provided with a spool conveying device pushing out a full lap and simultaneously conveying one of succeeding empty spools to be clasped by said lap disc plates by the swing action of said spool conveying device, and means for swinging said spool conveying device, whereby, after said spool has been wound with a full lap, said racked arms further ascend, said disc plates release said spool at said point of the elevation from the surface of the fluted rollers and said full lap is pushed to the outside of the fluted lap rollers by swinging action of said spool conveying device.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, said apparatus further comprising a lap cut-off device disposed on the lap supplying side between one of said fluted rollers and said calender rollers, said cut-off device having a shell roller which is in pressing contact with said one of the fluted rollers, a guide plate disposed between said shell rollers and said calender rollers and on which the lap passes, a nipper plate adapted to stop the flow of the lap while in abuttable contact with the upper surface of the guide plate, and a nipper roller which comes in frictional contact with the shell roller during which time the lap is cut oil? by the rotative pulling force of the fluted lap rollers.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, said apparatus further comprising an auxiliary roller disposed on the lap taking-off side of said fluted rollers and being rotatably secured to one end of a lever swinging around a fixed shaft, said lever being provided with a rotatable takin-g-oif roller at its other end and means to rotate said auxiliary roller, thereby upon pushing out the full lap from the fluted rollers, the lap being held between the auxiliary roller and one of said fluted rollers and, upon swinging said lever, the lap is taken off to the outside of the apparatus.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 further including shafts on said racked arms and said lap disc plates secured to said arms are rotatably and respectively mounted to each tip of the shafts of said arms which shafts are slidable through said arms, said shafts having spool clasping bosses facing each other and being provided with pistons and cylinders, the outer diameter of one of the pistons and the inner diameter of one of the cylinders being slightly larger than that of the other piston and that of the other cylinder respectively, and the outside of the cylinders being capable of ascending and descending in abutting contact with guide rails secured to the frame of said arms.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said automatic spool supplying apparatus further comprises a spool magazine provided with a pivotally mounted stopper at its outlet, a spool shooting guide arranged in inclined relation between the outlet of said magazine and said spool conveying device and provided with a pivotally mounted stopper at its inclined outlet, said spool conveying device being pivotally mounted at the outlet of said spool shooting guide and a hinged bent plate fitted with a pin and a spring at the tip portion thereof, and means to open said two stoppers for transferring extra spools held in said magazine one by one through said spool shooting guide to said spool conveying device in cooperation with the swing action of said device.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 wherein each of said stoppers pivotally mounted on said spool magazine and said spool shooting guide are provided with three links hinged so as to effect a simultaneous linking.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, said automatic spool supply apparatus further comprising a bell crank pivotally mounted to the frame of the autodofling apparatus and being connected to one end of said crank by means of a .piston rod in a cylinder and connected at another end to a linking mechanism which actuates a swing motion of the spool conveying device and a succeeding spool transfer from the spool magazine to said spool conveying device.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,682,998 7/1954 Strassler 24255.1 2,843,332 7/1958 Kawazura et al. 242-551 2,856,136 10/1958 Kawazura et al 242-55.1

OTHER REFERENCES Achenbac'h, German application, Serial No. A22852, printed July 19, 1956 (KL 7b 560).

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

W. S. BURDEN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN AUTODOFFING APPARATUS OF A LAP - FORMING MACHINE COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A PAIR OF FLUTED LAP ROLLERS ADAPTED TO BE WOUND WITH A LAP ON A SPOOL THEREON, A PAIR OF CALENDER ROLLERS, A PAIR OF RACKED ARMS DISPOSED VERTICALLY AND AXIALLY ON BOTH SIDES OF SAID FLUTED LAP ROLLERS, LAP DISC PLATES POSITIONED ON THE UPPER ENDS OF EACH OF SAID RACKED ARMS AND FACING EACH OTHER FOR CLASPING SAID SPOOL THEREBETWEEN AND BEING ADAPTED TO ASCEND IN RESPONSE TO THE THICKNESS OF THE LAP WOUND ON SAID SPOOL AND TO PUSH DOWNWARDS THE SPOOL FOR FRICTIONAL CONTACT WITH SAID LAP ROLLERS, SAID ARMS ALSO BEING ADAPTED TO ASCEND TO AN ELEVATED POINT AFTER FORMING A FULL LAP AND TO RELEASE SAID SPOOL SO AS TO BE EXCHANGED WITH A NEW SPOOL AT SAID POINT, MEANS FOR CLASPING THE LAP BETWEEN SAID LAP DISC PLATES, MEANS CONNECTED TO THE SAID RACKED ARMS FOR MAINTAINING A FRICTIONAL CONTACT BETWEEN SAID SPOOL AND SAID FLUTED LAP ROLLERS AND FOR ASCENDING THE RACKED ARMS TO THE ELEVATED POINT, AND AN AUTOMATIC SPOOL SUPPLY APPARATUS DISPOSED ABOVE SAID RACKED ARMS PROVIDED WITH A SPOOL CONVEYING DEVICE PUSHING OUT A FULL LAP AND SIMULTANEOUSLY CONVEYING ONE OF SUCCEEDING EMPTY SPOOLS TO BE CLASPED BY SAID LAP DISC PLATES BY THE SWING ACTION OF SAID SPOOL CONVEYING DEVICE, AND MEANS FOR SWINGING SAID SPOOL CONVEYING A DEVICE, WHEREBY, AFTER SAID SPOOL HAS BEEN WOUND WITH A FULL LAP, SAID RACKET ARMS FURTHER ASCEND, SAID DISC PLATES RELEASE SAID SPOOL AT SAID POINT OF THE ELEVATION FROM THE SURFACE OF THE FLUTED ROLLERS AND SAID FULL LAP IS PUSHED TO THE OUTSIDE OF THE FLUTED LAP ROLLERS BY SWINGING ACTION OF SAID SPOOL CONVEYING DEVICE. 